In summer 2024, technicians from NASA and contractor Bechtel National, Inc. completed a milestone called jack and set<\/a>, where the center\u2019s mega-mover, the crawler transporter, repositioned the initial steel base assembly for mobile launcher 2 from temporary construction shoring to its six permanent pedestals near the Kennedy\u2019s Vehicle Assembly Building. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe NASA Bechtel mobile launcher 2 team is ahead of schedule and gaining momentum by the day,\u201d stated Darrell Foster, ground systems integration manager, NASA\u2019s Exploration Ground Systems Program at NASA Kennedy. \u201cIn parallel to all of the progress at our main build site, the remaining tower modules are assembled and outfitted at a second construction site on center.\u201d<\/p>\n As construction of the mobile launcher 2\u2019s base continues, the assembly operations shift into integration of the modules that will make up the tower. In mid-October 2024, crews completed installation of the chair, named for its resemblance to a giant seat. The chair serves as the interface between the base deck and the vertical modules which are the components that will make up the tower, and stands at 80-feet-tall.<\/p>\n In December 2024, teams completed the rig and set Module 4 operation where the first of a total of seven 40-foot-tall modules was stacked on top of the chair. Becthel crews rigged the module to a heavy lift crane, raised the module more than 150-feet, and secured the four corners to the tower chair. Once complete, the entire mobile launcher structure will reach a height of nearly 400 feet \u2013 approximately the length of four Olympic-sized swimming pools placed end-to-end.<\/p>\n On the opposite side of the center, test teams at the Launch Equipment Test Facility<\/a> are testing the new umbilical interfaces, which will be located on mobile launcher 2, that will be needed to support the new SLS Block 1B Exploration Upper Stage<\/a>. The umbilicals<\/a> are connecting lines that provide fuel, oxidizer, pneumatic pressure, instrumentation, and electrical connections from the mobile launcher to the upper stage and other elements of SLS and NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft.<\/p>\n \u201cAll ambient temperature testing has been successfully completed and the team is now beginning cryogenic testing, where liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen will flow through the umbilicals to verify acceptable performance,\u201d stated Kevin Jumper, lab manager, NASA Launch Equipment Test Facility at Kennedy. \u201cThe Exploration Upper Stage umbilical team has made significant progress on check-out and verification testing of the mobile launcher 2 umbilicals.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Teams](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img-5797.jpg?w=2048\")
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